Research Excellence Framework

The Future Research Assessment Programme (FRAP) was initiated at the request of UK and devolved government ministers and funding bodies. This significant piece of work, launched in May 2021, was led by the four funding bodies and aimed to explore possible approaches to the assessment of UK higher education research performance following REF 2021.

Through dialogue with the higher education sector, the Programme sought to understand what a healthy, thriving research system looks like and the role that a national assessment model can have as its foundation. The work strands included evaluation of REF 2021, understanding international research assessment practice, and investigating possible evaluation models and approaches. The Programme aimed to identify evaluation approaches that can encourage and strengthen the emphasis on delivering excellent research and impact, and support a positive research culture, while simplifying and reducing the administrative burden on the HE sector.

An international advisory group was established to guide the funding bodies in their evaluation and consultation activities.

The results of the Future Research Assessment Programme inform the development of REF 2029.

The last research excellence framework was carried out in 2021. REF 2021 built on the REF exercise carried out in 2014, taking into account the recommendations of an independent review into that assessment process.

The results of REF 2021 were published on 12 May 2022. We have also produced a summary of the specific Scottish results:

The funding bodies commissioned a thorough programme of evaluation of REF 2021. This included a review of the exercise’s costs and benefits, analysis of impact case studies (an element of the REF submission which aims to demonstrate the impact of university research beyond academia), and analysis of research outputs submitted to the REF.